Friend told she needs a hysterectomy

[keri6789]

My friend came to me with a question…she knows I’m becoming Catholic and is really interested. She is always asking me questions. She told me she knows that the Catholic church thinks you should not use any type of birth control except natural family planning. This is her question: Her doctor said she will continue to be in extreme pain if she does not have a hysterectomy now. Does God look down on that?

Let me give you some background. She has a 3 yr. old daughter that she was told would never be here. She had been told that she would never be able to conceive let alone carry a baby to term. Her daughter is her miracle child. Since she was born, my friend has had horrible problems. She has had more cists than I can even count. She is ALWAYS in extreme pain. She sometimes can’t even move and thats with the help of pain meds. Its interfering with her taking care of her child. During the day her husband isn’t there to help her out so its really hard. We have gone to the er on many occasions because the pain was just to much and she needed stronger pain meds. Her doctor is saying the only way is a hysterectomy.

I think in time she might consider coming with me to Mass. She knows how much a relaxing experience it has been to me and she can see a change in me since I started going. She thinks God won’t love her. I’ve told her over and over that God will love you no matter what. Thats why he is GOD!!

Any help or advice you can give me so I can help her would be great!!

 

[BlestOne]

Of course there is nothing wrong with getting a hysterectomy for medical reasons! God loves her and will love her no matter what she does, she is his daughter! My advice is to be a friend… be there to help her out with her daughter, with her cooking and cleaning especially after her surgery. She was blest with a miracle daughter…proof of God’s love right there! It will take at least 6 weeks after surgery for her to be up and around, so why don’t you get her a book that might interest her on Christianity or Catholicism… She will have plenty of time to read after her surgery.

 

[lizaanne]

There is no reason why she can not or should not have this surgery. It is not elective, she needs this treatment for medical purposes. God gave us the ability through medicine to relieve suffering - when used appropriately, this is one of God’s amazing gifts to us. She has nothing to fear for having this surgery.

I agree - get her some good books about the Catholic Faith, and spend some time with her through her recovery for you both to grow together in your faith and in your friendship.

~Liza

 

[Jennifer_J]

If it’s a diseased organ it can be removed. Can you imagine if the Church taught otherwise? Anyone with breastcancer couldn’t have the cancer removed, anyone with an infected appendix would just have to die instead of having it removed, and a foot with gangrene would just be allowed to spread. The Church, of course, teaches that a diseased organ can be removed, which includes hysterectomies!!! You can reasure your friend and yourself that it’s okay.

Here’s a link that explains it much better than I can! LOL
jimmyakin.org/2006/02/hysterectomy.html
(there’s a link within to a Church statement on the matter!)

Jennifer

 

[gardenswithkids]

My friend came to me with a question…She told me she knows that the Catholic church thinks you should not use any type of birth control except natural family planning. This is her question: Her doctor said she will continue to be in extreme pain if she does not have a hysterectomy now. Does God look down on that?.. She has had more cists than I can even count. She is ALWAYS in extreme pain. She sometimes can’t even move and thats with the help of pain meds. …Her doctor is saying the only way is a hysterectomy.

Your friend has a diseased condition that requires medical attention. A hysterectomy to remove an unhealthy reproductive organ is entirely different from treating healthy reproductive organs as if *fertility *is a disease.

As your friend endured suffering to bring her child into the world, surely she recognizes that fertility and children are gifts, not diseases. God does not give everyone the gift of fertility, and some people, like your friend, have unhealthy reproductive organs. Surgery and medicine that as a side effect cause infertility is allowed, but contraception or surgery to make a healthy organ infertile isn’t. Your friend’s hysterectomy is different from people who intentionally use surgery or medicine to prevent pregnancy and childbirth. We may treat disease, but we should not treat children and fertility as diseases. Women can have a hysterectomies to remove an unhealthy reproductive organs, but not to remove an healthy ones.

 

[LSK]

May I suggest she also look into what treatments may be available to her that do not include hysterectomy? I wish I had done so before having mine. I would refer her to the Pope Paul VI institute (she can find them online). It may be that this is the best treatment for her. I know that I was unaware of the existence of this institute and so I will never know if I chose the right course of treatment or the only one any of the doctors I went to knew about or were willing to do.